Dialog View

Dialog View allows you to change the appearance of directory dialogs (Open and Save dialogs). You can control the icon type (large color, medium color, tiny generic, or none), the height and width of the file list,
and the font for the file list. Requires System 7. Not compatible with Norton Directory Assistance. Some PowerPC code. Formerly shareware, now free.

A bit of history: Years ago I wrote a postcard-ware utility called
Open-wide to stretch the file list in Open/Save dialogs. Later I wrote a freeware program, Dialog View 1.0, to change the icons and fonts in those dialogs. These two programs were combined in Dialog View 2.0.

Version 2.3 is an update for Mac OS 8 compatibility. It also fixes a conflict with Internet Explorer: The symptom was that selected files failed to highlight if you used large, tiny, or no icons.

Version 2.3.1 fixes a memory bug that could cause sporadic crashes, and handles a few more Mac OS 8 special folder icons, such as "Mac OS Read Me Files".

Version 2.3.2 is primarily for compatibility with Mac OS 8.5. The release version is functionally identical to version 2.3.2b4, but has updated documentation.

Version 2.3.3 fixes incorrect stretching in the Location Manager control panel, and possibly other programs.

Thanks to the volunteer efforts of Haruka Ishi, there is now a version of Dialog View localized for Japan. Not only the dialogs, but also the manual and the help balloons have been translated to Japanese. Of course you will need to have Japanese system software or the Japanese Language Kit in order to see the text properly.

Since I am no longer able to contact Haruka Ishi, I am not sure when I will be able to offer a localized version of Dialog View 2.3.2.

A Japanese Language Kit Bug

It has recently come to my attention that if you run the Japanese Language Kit and Language Kit updater under Mac OS 8, you may experience an apparent hang when using the "Try it" button in the Dialog View control panel. It's not really hung, it's just taking a really long time to display the dialog (about a minute on my Mac). This does not happen under Mac OS 8 alone, even the Japanese version of Mac OS 8, nor does it happen under System 7.6.1 with the Japanese Language Kit. It is an Apple bug, it even affects Apple's PC Exchange control panel.